RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Patrick Mahomes was cleared for full participation in Kansas City Chiefs training camp last month . The two-time NFL MVP quarterback has been gunning for a Week 1 return from the season-ending ACL and LCL tears he sustained in his left knee on Dec. 14 last year in Week 15 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
If Mahomes trots out to start the Sept. 14 opener in Arrowhead Stadium on “Monday Night Football” versus the Denver Broncos, he will have completed his desired comeback.
There are games before that, though. And while they don’t count toward the regular-season standings, preseason exhibitions can be useful for rehabilitating players like Mahomes. That said, it doesn’t sound like the three-time Super Bowl champion will be taking the field for those matchups.
More than a week away from the first one, an Aug. 15 meeting with the Los Angeles Rams, head coach Andy Reid fielded a question about what he factors into whether Mahomes plays.
"I mean, there's a pretty good chance I don't play him, and percentages are leading that way,” Reid told reporters on Friday .
“And I don't know if I'll play him in the second or the third game. I don't know that. But percentages probably lean against doing that and letting the other guys — we've got new people in those other positions and behind him that need some work. And so the more reps they get, the better.”
Mahomes’ current backup is 2021 No. 11 overall pick Justin Fields, whom the New York Jets traded to the Chiefs this offseason . Fields, 27, spent only one season with the Jets. They benched him midseason last year . The former Ohio State star has yet to fully realize his NFL potential, although he’s enjoyed some success as a dual-threat signal-caller over the years, most notably at points of his stays with the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Behind Fields on Kansas City’s depth chart is rookie Garrett Nussmeier. The LSU product dropped to the seventh round in this year’s draft. The Chiefs scooped him up. On Friday, Reid was asked about Nussmeier, the son of New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier.
“Every time he's in, he moves the ball,” Reid said. “I look at that, and then any of the mistakes we'll correct as we go, but his pass production has been a real positive.
“He gets it, he works hard at it. His dad's a coach, and he grew up that way knowing about detail. And so he's doing a nice job. We've loaded him up. I mean, we haven't pulled back on anything with him as far as volume, and he's handled it.”
Fields and Nussmeier are due for significant preseason snaps. For now, Mahomes will continue to be monitored in training camp.
Keenly surveying his mobility will be key for the Chiefs.
“To play in a game, you've got to have that,” Reid said. “You have to have escapability, or you can't be in there. You just can't play that position and be a target. You've got to have some mobility back there.
“So he works on that. If it's not there down the field, he takes off and runs. And every time he does it, it builds a little bit more confidence in it and the leg and all that bit. But that's an important part of it.”
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